Hello to all. This week was crazy crazy crazy! On Tuesday nights, the week of transfers, we usually receive the call from our District Leader as to who will be transferred the next day. Elder Clarke and I thought for sure that we were going to stay together, so we didn't worry much. At about 9:30 p.m. President Miller called us and talked to my companion first. He told Elder Clarke that he was going to be with one of his former companions again, and afterward he talked to me and told me that I was going to be transferred to Portland, TX.
My new companion and I are going to "white-wash" the area. That means that both of the old missionaries get transferred out, so both my companion (Elder Veater) and I are brand new in the area. So the next day I got transferred. It was sad because I really loved Flour Bluff, but Portland is super amazing. It's a very scenic place, and reminds me a lot of California. Ever since then, my companion and I have been trying to figure out where everything is and who all the members are and stuff. I'm not 100% sure about the new address, so just keep sending stuff to the mission office.
Elder Veater is from Ogden, Utah, and he's only been on his mission 10 months. The other companionship that attends our ward got white-washed in too, so yesterday everyone in the ward was surprised to see four new Elders! This area is great. The only downside is that we're on bikes again! We cover Portland and a small little town named Gregory. Pull up some pictures of Portland, because it's a super nice area. Across the street from our apartment is Nueces Bay, and we have this awesome view of Corpus Christi.
Just keep praying that we can get some good things done. Have a great week and tell everyone HI!
Love, Elder Carreon
* Blog Master's Note: Here is some info on Portland, Texas:
Portland is called the "Gem City of the Gulf Coast" and is described as being the most attractive and pleasant spot in Texas. It is situated in a beautiful 30- to 40-foot-high bluff overlooking 150 square miles of waves and fronted the deepest water in Corpus Christi Bay. As a summer and winter resort, Portland is described as being particularly pleasing with a mild climate and prevailing bay breezes. As a place for sportsmen, Portland is also known for its clean, family-oriented atmosphere, its TEA recognized school district, its very close proximity to downtown Corpus Christi (7 miles) and the multitude of recreational activities afforded by its position on both Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays; including birding, kite-surfing, fishing, golfing, swimming, canoeing, biking, kayaking and nature viewing. Portland also has 5 historical markers that tell stories of its past. The original Townsite of Portland came into being from 640 acres purchased by John G. Willacy in November 1890. The land was located on both sides of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad and overlooked both Corpus Christi and Nueces Bay. Ducks and other game are abundant, while the bays abound with redfish, tarpon and other varieties of fish. More fish and oysters are taken from these waters than at any point in the Gulf Coast.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Halloween and Possible Transfers
Hello to everyone:
This week with Halloween was pretty interesting. We weren't allowed to be out past 6 p.m. because of all of the trick-or-treaters and stuff, but around 5:30 p.m. we started to see people coming out. We knocked on this one door and this guy in a clown suit answered. We had to try really really hard not to laugh. We also saw a person dressed as Jesus answer another door. At 6 p.m. we went to the chapel with a bunch of other missionaries and had pizza and played games and stuff until 9 p.m.
We have transfers this wednesday. I can't believe it's been six weeks already. I hope I get to stay here longer, I really love it here and I can see this area progressing, so if my mission president or his wife happen to be reading this DON'T TRANSFER ME!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, I also have been a bit under the weather. It started yesterday and really hit me last night, but when I woke up today I felt way better, so hopefully it's nothing too big. The election seems to be all everyone is talking about around here, sounds like it will be an interesting one. I still haven't gotten my ballot yet, but I heard that Los Angeles is having a record number of absentee voters and so it's taking them a long time to get the ballots out. Hopefully I'll get mine soon! I requested it almost a month ago! Mom, happy birthday! Love, Ryan
This week with Halloween was pretty interesting. We weren't allowed to be out past 6 p.m. because of all of the trick-or-treaters and stuff, but around 5:30 p.m. we started to see people coming out. We knocked on this one door and this guy in a clown suit answered. We had to try really really hard not to laugh. We also saw a person dressed as Jesus answer another door. At 6 p.m. we went to the chapel with a bunch of other missionaries and had pizza and played games and stuff until 9 p.m.
We have transfers this wednesday. I can't believe it's been six weeks already. I hope I get to stay here longer, I really love it here and I can see this area progressing, so if my mission president or his wife happen to be reading this DON'T TRANSFER ME!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, I also have been a bit under the weather. It started yesterday and really hit me last night, but when I woke up today I felt way better, so hopefully it's nothing too big. The election seems to be all everyone is talking about around here, sounds like it will be an interesting one. I still haven't gotten my ballot yet, but I heard that Los Angeles is having a record number of absentee voters and so it's taking them a long time to get the ballots out. Hopefully I'll get mine soon! I requested it almost a month ago! Mom, happy birthday! Love, Ryan
Monday, October 27, 2008
A Baptism Coming Up
Thanks for all of your prayers. We had some great things happen despite my companion being sick at home for a few days this week. It was hard for me, too, because I was getting cabin fever staying home. Usually we are busy every moment, so it's quite a switch to have down time like that.
As for how the work is going, there is this girl whose boyfriend is a member of the church, and he invited her to church and gave her a Book of Mormon and all this stuff. She had been going to her boyfriend's Ward since August, and about a week or so ago she went to the Bishop and asked him how she could get baptized! She lives in our area, so on Thursday we took her over to a member's house and had a lesson with her. It was great! She is super prepared to receive the gospel. She said that she and her boyfriend read from the Book of Mormon together and that she feels different at our church than the other ones she's been to. She is amazing, and will be baptized on November 9th! Please keep her in your prayers! If everyone could please continue to pray for our other investigators, that would help out a lot, too.
Friday night was pretty lame. We got in our car and drove far away from our apartment, and after we were done in that area we went back to the car, and it died on us. It was probably the fuel pump, and this one guy told us that a lot of fuel pumps have been going out lately because this certain gas station puts some extra stuff in the gas that kills the pump faster than normal. We had to walk home, and we've been on bike and foot since then. Gas is super super super cheap around here, about $2.25 a gallon. There are rumors that gas in Ingleside is less than $2 a gallon! I hope it keeps going down!
We're going to a Halloween party at the church on Friday with all of the missionaries, so I'll send some pictures. Tell everybody that I say hi!
Love, Elder Carreon
As for how the work is going, there is this girl whose boyfriend is a member of the church, and he invited her to church and gave her a Book of Mormon and all this stuff. She had been going to her boyfriend's Ward since August, and about a week or so ago she went to the Bishop and asked him how she could get baptized! She lives in our area, so on Thursday we took her over to a member's house and had a lesson with her. It was great! She is super prepared to receive the gospel. She said that she and her boyfriend read from the Book of Mormon together and that she feels different at our church than the other ones she's been to. She is amazing, and will be baptized on November 9th! Please keep her in your prayers! If everyone could please continue to pray for our other investigators, that would help out a lot, too.
Friday night was pretty lame. We got in our car and drove far away from our apartment, and after we were done in that area we went back to the car, and it died on us. It was probably the fuel pump, and this one guy told us that a lot of fuel pumps have been going out lately because this certain gas station puts some extra stuff in the gas that kills the pump faster than normal. We had to walk home, and we've been on bike and foot since then. Gas is super super super cheap around here, about $2.25 a gallon. There are rumors that gas in Ingleside is less than $2 a gallon! I hope it keeps going down!
We're going to a Halloween party at the church on Friday with all of the missionaries, so I'll send some pictures. Tell everybody that I say hi!
Love, Elder Carreon
Monday, October 20, 2008
Nearing the One-Year Mark
Dear Family & Friends: I can't believe it's been almost a year since I started my mission. This week was kind of crazy. We had our interviews with President and Sister Miller, which is always a good experience. They are a big part of why this mission is so great.
I do have one request. I know I haven't really done this much, but I would like to ask you guys if you could pray for two of our investigators this week. That would be great. I won't give their names to respect their privacy, but please pray for them and for us so that we can know how to help them. Come to think of it, why not pray for all the investigators!
Flour Bluff is an amazing place. The people and the members are wonderful. I've learned so much since I've been here. I'll try to resend the pictures, they were returned because I didn't have the right apartment number. Write soon and thank you for your letters, prayers, and encouraging words.
Ryan
I do have one request. I know I haven't really done this much, but I would like to ask you guys if you could pray for two of our investigators this week. That would be great. I won't give their names to respect their privacy, but please pray for them and for us so that we can know how to help them. Come to think of it, why not pray for all the investigators!
Flour Bluff is an amazing place. The people and the members are wonderful. I've learned so much since I've been here. I'll try to resend the pictures, they were returned because I didn't have the right apartment number. Write soon and thank you for your letters, prayers, and encouraging words.
Ryan
Monday, October 13, 2008
Members and the Beach
Hello to alI:
Mom, I did get the Halloween package.We are now addicted to candy corn. We have this member who is trying to quit smoking and wants to come back to church. She says she has tried everything, so what we decided to do was get her to smoke less and less until she can go cold turkey. We took her pack of cigarettes and put in a picture of Jesus, so every time she wants to smoke, she has to reach over the photo. We hope that helps her out.
On Thursday, I went on exchanges with Elder Lopez. He's from Long Beach, so we talked a lot about L.A. On Saturday we spent most of the day on North Padre Island. We ate with a member family who live in an apartment building right on the beach. It was pretty awesome. There were a bunch of people kite boarding in the water and stuff. The week was pretty normal on the whole, but the members around here love us and are giving us a lot of names of people to work with so hopefully something good will turn out soon! Anyway, all is well here and I'll send some pictures soon.
Ryan
Mom, I did get the Halloween package.We are now addicted to candy corn. We have this member who is trying to quit smoking and wants to come back to church. She says she has tried everything, so what we decided to do was get her to smoke less and less until she can go cold turkey. We took her pack of cigarettes and put in a picture of Jesus, so every time she wants to smoke, she has to reach over the photo. We hope that helps her out.
On Thursday, I went on exchanges with Elder Lopez. He's from Long Beach, so we talked a lot about L.A. On Saturday we spent most of the day on North Padre Island. We ate with a member family who live in an apartment building right on the beach. It was pretty awesome. There were a bunch of people kite boarding in the water and stuff. The week was pretty normal on the whole, but the members around here love us and are giving us a lot of names of people to work with so hopefully something good will turn out soon! Anyway, all is well here and I'll send some pictures soon.
Ryan
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A New Area
Dear Family & Friends
I'll send home the memory card from my camera today. I have a lot of pictures from when we went to the zoo in Brownsville.
This week I am trying to decide who to vote for. I haven't heard anything about any of the candidates except one rumor that Obama might not actually be a U.S. citizen! That would be a huge problem if that turns out to be true. I have already requested a ballot from California, but I still have no idea who to vote for.
My new area, Flour Bluff, is pretty crazy! There is a real cultural difference between here and the valley.
People here are super nice, too, but more willing to be honest with you and slam the door in your face. It makes finding those who want to hear about the gospel a lot easier, but still takes some getting used to. General Conference was amazing! It's pretty much like Christmas for missionaries because all we do is hang out at the church and watch all of the sessions. I'm pretty sure the world is going to end soon because during the first session all of the speakers were super intense and spiritually powerful and talking about unifying our hearts and minds in Zion and stuff. It was way more intense than I remember it being, but maybe that's just because I actually paid attention! I can't wait until the Ensign (church magazine) comes out. Our area covers Flour Bluff and North Padre Island. Yesterday we went to the island (we usually go on Sundays). It reminds me a lot of California. It's very beachy and there are lots of palm trees and stuff. A lot of the houses come with a private dock. It's really cool, but takes like 20 minutes to drive across the bridge to get there.
Hope you had a great week and write soon.
Love, Ryan
I'll send home the memory card from my camera today. I have a lot of pictures from when we went to the zoo in Brownsville.
This week I am trying to decide who to vote for. I haven't heard anything about any of the candidates except one rumor that Obama might not actually be a U.S. citizen! That would be a huge problem if that turns out to be true. I have already requested a ballot from California, but I still have no idea who to vote for.
My new area, Flour Bluff, is pretty crazy! There is a real cultural difference between here and the valley.
People here are super nice, too, but more willing to be honest with you and slam the door in your face. It makes finding those who want to hear about the gospel a lot easier, but still takes some getting used to. General Conference was amazing! It's pretty much like Christmas for missionaries because all we do is hang out at the church and watch all of the sessions. I'm pretty sure the world is going to end soon because during the first session all of the speakers were super intense and spiritually powerful and talking about unifying our hearts and minds in Zion and stuff. It was way more intense than I remember it being, but maybe that's just because I actually paid attention! I can't wait until the Ensign (church magazine) comes out. Our area covers Flour Bluff and North Padre Island. Yesterday we went to the island (we usually go on Sundays). It reminds me a lot of California. It's very beachy and there are lots of palm trees and stuff. A lot of the houses come with a private dock. It's really cool, but takes like 20 minutes to drive across the bridge to get there.
Hope you had a great week and write soon.
Love, Ryan
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